HG Bishop Ioan Casian: Sunday of the Romanian Saints - an invitation to holiness
June 26, 2022
“The multitude of saints in our calendar, make it not monotonous, the richness of holiness highlighting the work of God in the world, sanctioned by the Church, and recognized by us, the common people. Every Sunday is an exhortation to become holy. The multitude of saints who belong to our Romanian nation is the visible signs of God's presence and work.”
“The entire universe, including our human nature, is governed by order and rules. If we, the people in the church, who have known the revealed God, know the law and know what we have to do or what we must do, we will be judged after the fulfillment of these laws, all the others who did not know the revealed God, will be judged according to the law of conscience, which either blames or exempts us according to the deeds done. Disorder is only a result of sin and disobedience.”
“To walk in the way of holiness, we must empty our hearts and minds of the passions who rules over us, because where sin and passion are present there is no grace, although there is God's help, because otherwise the world would return to nothingness. We must do so in such a way as to diminish the darkness within us, so that the light of grace and holiness may take its place. And this can be achieved by going through three stages:
- leaving the snares of sin and fulfilling what God requires of us, or rather, what Christ did first. Let us remove wickedness, injustice, envy, ungodliness, and put in place the virtues of which St. Paul speaks to the Corinthians: love, kindness, long-suffering, etc.
- detachment from material things
- detachment from bodily relations with the family, to become spiritual sons and daughters of God.”
“St. John Chrysostom says that Christ chose the Apostles because of their faith and obedience, and an anonymous commentator on Holy Scripture emphasizes that they were chosen by virtue of what they would become and not by what they were, because Christ saw their potential to become luminaries of the Church. This perspective raises a very big dilemma: why was Judah chosen? This choice is a great mystery of the freedom of God and man. God chose a man who knew he would fall and will betray the very life of Christ in the flesh. However, God gave him the chance not to do so, because there is repentance. This is extraordinary generosity and the incomprehensible love of God. He gives each of us the chance to live our lives and to assume responsibly our faith in the path to holiness, having as an example and strengthening force all the saints of our Romanian nation.”
